We here at Kumulos know it’s crucial to take a look at developing technology in the tech world and how it could impact the app developing world. We’re kicking things off with a big one, 4G. As many of you know, 4G is the next level of mobile internet; capable of speeds up to 1Gbits/s downloading, which with some providers is 25 times the speed of their current 3g.With all this extra bandwidth and speed to play with, the mobile app world is standing on the cusp of a new explosion of platforms and areas to develop in and we at Kumulos think it’s only right that we point out some of the most exciting ones, such as:
Mobiles and Tablets will be smarter than ever
Let’s say you have a current Smartphone or Tablet. Without a wireless hotspot, your current 3g internet can browse the web, send e-mails, update your Facebook status and generally do everything that you do daily on a web browser but not too much more. With 4g however, this will be very quickly relegated to the room of “problems we used to have”. Instant buffering online video? Yup. Streaming music seamlessly? Oh yes. What about HD video, for films? Easy.
This is obviously exciting in terms of on-the-go entertainment, but also a great indication of the possibilities that come with such high bandwidth. As an app developer, you no longer need to think inside the constraints of limited bandwidth, you are free to create on a whole new level. Apps no longer need to be small, uncomplicated things that cannot do more than the basest of interactions online; they can talk to each other in full HD, send entire libraries of bulky data and generally start to throw their weight around to become a new breed of app that you as a developer could be creating. And with this freedom will come the development of more powerful phones and tablets, better able to handle this new access to media, and also, new access to apps that could never exist before outside of the home. Speaking of the home…
Your home will be your hub
Our CEO, Michael Romilly, recently talked about Apple TV and its impact on the current tech and entertainment scene with its introduction of Netflix streaming and the ability to connect with any of your iOS products like iPhone and iPad straight to your home TV. Samsung and other companies have also arrived on the SmartTV market delivering similar experiences, with others like Sonos providing wireless control of your hi-fi. This is the start of home-hubbing, where everything in your house talks to the other to create a seamless experience, and apps will be a big part of that connectivity.
At the moment, however, this is all tied to your wired internet connection. 4g, however, seems set to free homeowners, and all their technology, free from your Virgin monthly plan. Your SmartTV could, instead of needing plugged into your router, use an app and tap into your already paid for 4g mobile connection. The same thing applies to your computer, your tablet, your music players. All of them will be given the ability to stream anything you want instantly. With this ability will come a whole new market for apps that connect and enhance your home entertainment, but what about outside of the home, what happens when you leave the house and go on the road? Well…
The car is just as connected
Cars have always been something of a dead-zone for wireless and computing outside of GPS tracking and perhaps a rear-seat TV screen, and so it has been for the last decade or so. 4G is looking to shake that up, with major manufacturers looking to add 4G connectivity to their cars. The increased bandwidth allows cars to not only take directions from GPS satellites, but connect to the map database and automatically update themselves. It means that cars can send valuable data about fuel consumption, location, driver behaviour, car performance and internal diagnostics to the manufacturer and to insurance companies.
The potential extends outside of practical solutions though. Apps like Spotify could become packaged as part of a car’s standard media centre, there could be apps providing constant live streaming of local and worldwide news, access to any and every internet radio station. The kids in the back can also benefit from this. They can just start up a movie on Netflix as you drive to your destination. The scope for app development is huge and your app could make someone else’s daily commute to work no longer just part of their working day at the office; which incidentally, will likely be seeing an overhaul itself…
Never miss another meeting
So you got up a little late this morning, there was traffic on the road and you hit every red light along the way. You get into work late and have already missed a morning meeting of your team to discuss the day’s projects. 4G to the rescue once again. If you’re going to be late, why not get the team to conference call you in the car as you’re driving? If, for example, you are an app developer, why not get the team to also send you the latest iterations of your app that you can look at on your phone whilst sitting in traffic?
Even inside the office the story remains the same. You can be connected to all your fellow co-workers whether they are within your office space or not. You can update a team on what they need to do when they are hundreds of miles apart. Through a company cloud, you can jump into your working world anytime and see the updates that people have completed on various pieces of work, see who’s working on what and access any and all the essential files for your project. The cloud structure will become the modern business’s go-to organisational tool and as an app developer you can be on the forefront of that wave, providing services for them to use. Businesses won’t be the only one’s benefitting from clouds however…
Within the clouds the future lies
You need only to look at something like Netflix or Spotify to see Cloud structure in action. It’s fast, efficient and prices by on-demand, and 4G will be bringing this straight to every mobile device. With these speeds, cloud gaming also becomes a very real possibility on phones and tablets.
Apps like Instagram have proven that there is a huge demand for people to create their own content and then share it amongst their friends. Imagine being able to not only create and upload pictures, but movies as well. You and your friends could have access to your own personal cloud space where you can upload and download snippets of each other’s lives wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Found an awesome new bar? Get a video of you in there onto the cloud telling people to join you. This is a new market in social and cloud based networking that you as a developer can be breaking ground in right now.Clouds will become more and more popular as 4G opens up the internet, and as an app developer, using cloud based services like our own Kumulos will allow you – whether you are just starting up or are an established studio – to ride this new wave.
To bring this to a neatly rounded end, we give you this;
Our future vision with 4G
Your working day is finished and just as you leave the office you upload your day’s work to the office cloud from your phone. As you drive home, you listen to your favourite bands streaming straight to your car’s own speakers. You pick up your kids from school and they settle down to watch a TV show in the back. As you wait at traffic lights near your home, you use your phone to connect to your home music player and tell it to start playing the same playlist you’re listening to in the car.When you open the door, the song you just left in the car has carried on and happily welcomes you back. Your kids wander through to the living room and continue watching their show, picking up where they left off in the car. Your spouse sends you a video of them stuck at work and asks you to start dinner, then sends you a link to a youtube video of how to prepare it that you watch on your phone as you follow its instruction.
With 4g the future is bright in the app development world. The scenario we have above is very possible using the expanded bandwidth and higher speeds, and using Kumulos as your back end as a service, we can help you develop apps for this newer, more connected, future. After all, wouldn’t it be great to reply client’s problem and say “Actually, we have an app for that.”
